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US House of Representatives Approves Budget Bill with Funding for Iraq, Afghanistan

Last Updated: November 01, 2009 4:28 PM

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US House of Representatives Approves Budget Bill with Funding for Iraq, Afghanistan

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The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a massive spending bill that funds most of the government through September 2008, and provides $70 billion for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

By a vote of 272 to 142, the House Wednesday approved the legislation that the Senate cleared late Tuesday. The $555-billion bill now goes to President Bush for his expected signature, more than two months after the fiscal year started.

Congressional Democrats lost their bid to link funding for the Iraq war with a timetable for withdrawal.

Mr. Bush had threatened to veto any bill that included deadlines to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq. Some Democrats said the new round of Iraq money would give the president what they called a "blank check" to run the war.